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Chances For Business Student


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Hello everyone,

 

I would like to have your honest advice about my chances of being admitted to a medical school in the next couple of years. I've been browsing through this forum for the past few days, and whilst I did find very good information, I would like to have some additional input. My background is quite non-traditional (I'm currently 25), so I am looking at U of C (my hometown) and McMaster. I have not completed the MCAT, but will do so before applying. 

 

Here is my background:

               GPA: 3.4 - 3.5 - Studied business (BBA) at Laval. I went to Japan for 1 year during my BAA. Currently pursuing my IMBA in China with an exchange semester in Germany.

              (Programme ranked 43rd in the world by financial times).

 

ECs:

700 hours of tutoring - Awarded a US $60,000 scholarship from the Chinese government to pursue my MBA in China - Speak 5 languages (French, English, Chinese, German, Japanese) -  Worked as the Business Development Director for Asia and Europe for a company in robotics, completing a trade mission in India, Italy and Morocco. Managed a budget of over US $1,000,000 whilst taking in charge the hiring department of our international operations - Participant in the Yale Case Competition and the Investment Competition (selected twice at the national level in order to represent my Chinese university at Yale) - Participated in the Global Network Week of Advanced Management organized by Yale at the Graduate Business School of Cape Town, the number one business school in Africa - Acted as the head delegate for the Washington Model Organization of the American States, where I coordinated the activities of my delegation, working in concert with Bolivia's ambassador, to pass our resolution by a majority vote - Committee member throughout my undergrad taking care of inbound international students - Programme monitor during my IMBA, voicing the needs for the international student's population -

I was also invited by the Fédération de Scrabble Francophone (International French Scrabble Federation) to represent Western Canada in the Scrabble World Championship held in Switzerland

 

I do consider myself lucky to have achieve these extracurriculars before the age of 25, but I still have doubts in regards to my serious lack of research and shadowing on top of my low GPA. Medicine has always been at the center of what I wanted to do, but I decided to momentarily put it aside to pursue business. I do not regret it, but I now wish to come back to medicine. 

 

Let's say I get excellent reference letters with an average score on the VR part of the GMAT, since I've heard McMaster as well as U of C only look at this section, do you consider my chances as being low, bad, good? 

 

Thank you for your thoughts and advices!

 

Majid

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You certainly have demonstrated Can MEDS competencies with your ECs. Do well on VR, kill Casper and you should be in good shape with Mac. I assume that once you get an interview, the MMI should be a productive, fun experience with your background and I don't think you will need any prep. I wish you every success!

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Business is fine (as is any other undergrad degree) for applying for medical school.  While it is not common, it does not hinder or help your application.

 

You will need to learn (or brush up on) science material to be able to write the MCAT.  Depending on your learning methods you may be able to do this self-taught or via formal Prep courses.

 

 

You do need to be realistic in how difficult It may be to get an interview due to a low undergrad GPA.   Your current MBA would not factor in much GPA-wise.

 

 

For the 2 schools you reference,

 

McMaster last year only admitted 6 out of 206 people with a GPA below 3.5.  Consider you need to get an interview first for your ECs to be of any value.  To overcome your GPA,  you would need to do stellar on both MCAT(CARS) and CASPER.  Note that MAC only allots 10% of their interview slots for out of province.  MAC also does not count any credits from foreign exchanges into your GPA (that could be +/- for you).

 

       http://mdprogram.mcmaster.ca/md-program-admissions/how-we-select

 

------------

 

For Calgary,  the review process to get an interview is more holistic and your ECs would be part of it.   Do consider last year that only ~10 out of 251 offers had a GPA below 3.5.

 

      http://mdadmissions.ucalgaryblogs.ca/files/2016/09/Reference-Stats-2016.pdf?x48364

      https://www.ucalgary.ca/mdprogram/prospective-students/application-manual-2016-2017#quickset-field_collection_quicktabs_5

 

 

Look through a few more schools requirements and admissions statistics to see what your options are.  Double-check if you might be considered in province in Quebec as well base on your time at Laval.

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Business is fine (as is any other undergrad degree) for applying for medical school.  While it is not common, it does not hinder or help your application.

 

You will need to learn (or brush up on) science material to be able to write the MCAT.  Depending on your learning methods you may be able to do this self-taught or via formal Prep courses.

 

 

You do need to be realistic in how difficult It may be to get an interview due to a low undergrad GPA.   Your current MBA would not factor in much GPA-wise.

 

 

For the 2 schools you reference,

 

McMaster last year only admitted 6 out of 206 people with a GPA below 3.5.  Consider you need to get an interview first for your ECs to be of any value.  To overcome your GPA,  you would need to do stellar on both MCAT(CARS) and CASPER. In the magnitude of better than 90% of all other applicants. Note that MAC only allots 10% of their interview slots for out of province.  MAC also does not count any credits from foreign exchanges into your GPA (that could be +/- for you).

 

       http://mdprogram.mcmaster.ca/md-program-admissions/how-we-select

 

------------

 

For Calgary,  the review process to get an interview is more holistic and your ECs would be part of it.   Do consider last year that only ~10 out of 251 offers had a GPA below 3.5.

 

      http://mdadmissions.ucalgaryblogs.ca/files/2016/09/Reference-Stats-2016.pdf?x48364

      https://www.ucalgary.ca/mdprogram/prospective-students/application-manual-2016-2017#quickset-field_collection_quicktabs_5

 

 

Look through a few more schools requirements and admissions statistics to see what your options are.  Double-check if you might be considered in province in Quebec as well base on your time at Laval.

 

 

Hey Meridian,

 

Thanks for the feedback. I can be considered as an in province in Québec as I born there, however, at first glance, it doesn't seem as though I would be able to get in since there's a high cutoff for the GPA no? 

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Hello everyone,

 

I would like to have your honest advice about my chances of being admitted to a medical school in the next couple of years. I've been browsing through this forum for the past few days, and whilst I did find very good information, I would like to have some additional input. My background is quite non-traditional (I'm currently 25), so I am looking at U of C (my hometown) and McMaster. I have not completed the MCAT, but will do so before applying. 

 

Here is my background:

               GPA: 3.4 - 3.5 - Studied business (BBA) at Laval. I went to Japan for 1 year during my BAA. Currently pursuing my IMBA in China with an exchange semester in Germany.

              (Programme ranked 43rd in the world by financial times).

 

ECs:

700 hours of tutoring - Awarded a US $60,000 scholarship from the Chinese government to pursue my MBA in China - Speak 5 languages (French, English, Chinese, German, Japanese) -  Worked as the Business Development Director for Asia and Europe for a company in robotics, completing a trade mission in India, Italy and Morocco. Managed a budget of over US $1,000,000 whilst taking in charge the hiring department of our international operations - Participant in the Yale Case Competition and the Investment Competition (selected twice at the national level in order to represent my Chinese university at Yale) - Participated in the Global Network Week of Advanced Management organized by Yale at the Graduate Business School of Cape Town, the number one business school in Africa - Acted as the head delegate for the Washington Model Organization of the American States, where I coordinated the activities of my delegation from Laval university, working in concert with Bolivia's ambassador, to pass our resolution by a majority vote - Committee member throughout my undergrad taking care of inbound international students - Programme monitor during my IMBA, voicing the needs for the international student's population -

I was also invited by the Fédération de Scrabble Francophone (International French Scrabble Federation) to represent Western Canada in the Scrabble World Championship held in Switzerland

 

I do consider myself lucky to have achieve these extracurriculars before the age of 25, but I still have doubts in regards to my serious lack of research and shadowing on top of my low GPA. Medicine has always been at the center of what I wanted to do, but I decided to momentarily put it aside to pursue business. I do not regret it, but I now wish to come back to medicine. 

 

Let's say I get excellent reference letters with an average score on the VR part of the GMAT, since I've heard McMaster as well as U of C only look at this section, do you consider my chances as being low, bad, good? 

 

Thank you for your thoughts and advices!

 

Majid

For U of C, a few things about what you've written stand out to me. 

 

First, Dr. Walker stresses that they don't care what degree applicants have or what institution applicants come from. This means that they won't treat you any differently because of your business background per se, and that the program rankings you included probably aren't worth mentioning in your application. 

 

U of C also puts a lot of weight (relatively speaking, compared to other schools) on the CARS section, which I imagine is similar to the VR score on the GMAT? You will probably need to hit the CARS section out of the park on the MCAT to have a good shot at U of C. That being said, your ECs are clearly above average so you should score fairly well as long as you write your top ten carefully. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Wow! :o 

You have accomplished soo much for such a young age. To be very honest, I'm pretty proud of your achievements!  :)

 

I'm a pre-med from Manitoba and I'm not 100% familiar with how the medical school in the U of C works but if it requires you to have pre-requisites (like ours do) then I would suggest taking those first. If they don't require pre-requites then you are golden!

All you have to do is really focus and ace your MCAT. 

However, this is easier said than done because there's a reason as to why some people re-take the MCAT multiple times. It's a beast that must be slayed!

 

I was once told by one of my medical school friend that you should do your very best and give it your best shot in order to achieve a good score. 

"Do it once and do it right!" That was his exact words!

 

I think (and I'm sure that most people would agree) that you should start by making a plan. How long do you want to study for the MCAT and do you have other commitments? How many months would you require? How many hours would you dedicate to study for the MCAT. 

Ask yourself these questions.

 

Best of luck to you and please keep us updated! 

I love hearing the experiences from non-traditional students, they're all so inspiring!  :D

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